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Nov 15, 2010

Coconut Cake with coconut and cream frosting

There must be a stage in every baker's life when he finds out he can do something which he had thought to be impracticable in the past. And after you do it, you gets shifted to the upper class from where you would be able to look down to the past.. to the stage when you had feared to try that 'something', thinking it has been meant for the experts, and smile in silent amusement when others admire you for being an expert .. for being a 'knower' amidst all other 'unknowers'. And your heart winks at you joining in your secret and asks you, "After all it was not a herculean task.. It was quite easy, ain't it?"

Do I sound like I am blabbering? Well, what I was gonna tell you is .. I was also in the ignorant people's category on how to make an iced cake or how to prepare icing for a cake. When I used to gawk in awe at the iced cakes or pastry cakes in the shops, I had always thought it was beyond me and can only be done by very professional bakers with much sophisticated utensils and had never dared to experiment. I don't know what evoked the dare devil in me and just kept on insisting "why don't you try.. what if you succeed?" and I got the bit between my teeth.. And guess what? I couldn't contain my mirth when it turned out, not too bad and hubby declared it bitchin'..

It was only coincidental that I tried the icing on a Coconutcake. I had been planning to make one for some time and what actually happened was it got caught in between my icing adventure. That was how it turned out to be an iced coconut cake. I was so engrossed in my icing experiment that I forgot to take pictures, silly me.. :) Only after the cake was done, did I remember capturing it in the lens and so.. for the time being you have to do with the finished photos. Later on I shall give you a detailed picture description of icing on my next venture. Did I tell you I sprinkled some desiccated coconut all over the icing so that it actually became a coconut icing..? And I inserted some chocolate chips too as a decoration. You could leave it as such or do some decoration. By the way coconut cake is more yummy than any other cakes..every bit of it crunchy with coconut. Me being a coconut lover should have known that. And the cake is particularly soft n moist too.Coming to the recipe..

Preparation:Cake:Measure the sifted flour into a bowl. Add baking powder and salt. Sift these ingredients three times. In a mixing bowl cream butter thoroughly; add sugar gradually. Continue creaming until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg yolks and beat well. Add flour mixture , alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition.Stir in coconut and vanilla. Fold in egg whites gently. Bake in greased 8 inch pans at 350 degree F for about 30 minutes or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.Allow to cool on a wire rack.Makes two 8 inch layers.

Making the frosting:Combine all ingredients except vanilla in the top of a double boiler over boiling water. Beat with electric whisk for about 7 minutes or until mixture will stand in stiff peaks. Beat in one teaspoon vanilla extract.

Frosting the cake:
Spread the frosting evenly all over the sides and top of the cake with a small spatula. Sprinkle dessicated coconut all over the frosting. Press with your fingers on to the sides. Insert chocolate chips for decoration.

thanks Sabida,jazakalla khair.. It ws not fresh coconut.I used dessicated coconut which u get from the stores which is some what dry.. and if u hav corn flour u can easily make the syrup by mixing 1/2 a tsp of corn flour in 2tsp of water.. all the best!

Hi Kitchen Boffin, Nice cake....from so long coconut cake is in my list but everytime I end up making chco. cakes (kids love that).....Love your cake....thanks for visiting my place will see u around....

hi..it was really nice recipe and me and my sister tried it today...we don't have oven,so we did traditional baking on stove ;) ..we used whipped cream as we are not so fond of egg white frosting... the cake came out well..we put the icing...and all was so beautiful..and finally when we tasted the cake was so bitter...we dont understand what went wrong as we had strictly followed your recipe except for the frosting... Our parents(who are ofcrse more experienced in these things) say we used excess baking powder... is that so... we used 2 tsp of baking powder as was written by you...anyway..,our whole afternoon worth of work and anticipation went in vain.... I really appreciate if you could point out wr we went wrong..Apart from this ..,I really like your blog and ur writing style...

Dear Shirin,If you followed the recipe strictly, there is no way you could go wrong.. I have made this cake several times and it has never failed me once..For two cups of flour( which I believe that you used all purpose flour and not cake flour), 2 tsp of baking powder is not excess..You mentioned that your cake was bitter.. It makes me suspicious as to wether you used normal crystal sugar instead of powdered sugar in the batter..I have found from my experience that if you use normal sugar, without powdering it, the sugar rises up to the top while baking and form a thick crest on the top making the cake devoid of sugar and hence somewhat bitter. This is because the sugar doesn't dissolve evenly in the batter if not powdered finely..better luck next time..

Hii again..,I had used powdered sugar itself.... but later when we thought about our failure again and again..(we had to..,coz all the comments here said they were successful too following the recipe)..,we came to the conclusion that neither U nor we went wrong... may be what available here as baking powder(appakkaram) might be baking soda..we bought it from nearby stores and I dont think our local stationaries will know much difference about baking powder and baking soda...So to make sure thats the mistake.., I tried your recipe again on the next day with 1/2 tsp of appakkaram and guess what..? !!! The cake was a grand success... all thanks to you...and sorry for doubting your recipe....no hard feeling..eh..? I wanted to write to you..but always got dragged away from sitting infront of my computer due to various reasons...Now I came back here to check on ur banana cake recipe.... :) ;)Have a grt day...Salam

Hii again..,I had used powdered sugar itself.... but later when we thought about our failure again and again..(we had to..,coz all the comments here said they were successful too following the recipe)..,we came to the conclusion that neither U nor we went wrong... may be what available here as baking powder(appakkaram) might be baking soda..we bought it from nearby stores and I dont think our local stationaries will know much difference about baking powder and baking soda...So to make sure thats the mistake.., I tried your recipe again on the next day with 1/2 tsp of appakkaram and guess what..? !!! The cake was a grand success... all thanks to you...and sorry for doubting your recipe....no hard feeling..eh..? I wanted to write to you..but always got dragged away from sitting infront of my computer due to various reasons...Now I came back here to check on ur banana cake recipe.... :) ;)Have a grt day...Salam

Salam once again..,It would have been fantastic if there was an option for us to share the pics of our tryouts on ur recipes...But..,may be thats gonna clog your blog...anyway..,its just a suggestion... ;)

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About Me

I am an enthusiast in trying out new recipes, obsessed with perfecting traditional dishes and a hardcore admirer of good food.. Being a mother of three kids, I have all the reasons in the world to try out yummy recipes from around the globe..

What is special about this blog

This space is a humble attempt at compiling my culinary adventures in Kerala recipes, Indian recipes and beyond... You would often find a nostalgic touch to the dishes I cook up.. that's how I feel about homely food. Somewhere somehow I would have wandered away from traditional recipes and made my own innovations.. I wouldn't advice you to strictly follow by the exact amount of spices and ingredients as such. U can make your own alterations based on your taste and tolerance to spices..